The first stop of Franzi’s sightseeing tour on Sunday was the department where I had spent a major part of my undergraduate and graduate studies. I asked a passerby to take a photo of Franzi in front of the gate. Maybe it was the time of the day and him being a student or maybe he wasn’t the brightest candle on the cake, but it took us several attempts until everything that I wanted was caught on the photograph. Imagine a large gate, the title of the department over it, a statue to the right and to the left of it: why cut off my feet, or part of the title, or half of a statue? And I am afraid that he was engineering student, a gen-z type of engineering student, I’d suppose.
Anyway, my way then led me past “Audimax” (Auditorium Maximum), where I had heard Inorganic Chemistry twice a week at the ungodly time of 8.00 a.m. cum tempore, as well as the main “Mensa” (Mensa Academica), the lunch cafeteria of the university.
I went further to “Ponttor,” the northwesterly gate in the outer city wall, which was built in the 14th century, and which is one of two of formerly 14 city gates still existing.
Franzi and “Ponttor”
Close to “Ponttor” used to be a great student pub/bar/restaurant called “Labyrinth,” known to be open at pretty much any time of the day, seven days a week, serving simple and affordable dishes. It was busy all the time and a wonderful place to get together for a drink after class or for a bite to eat before heading out to a party. This is where I had planned to have lunch! --- It had been turned into a steakhouse and it was closed for lunch on Sundays.
Disillusioned, I made my way further down “Pontstraße” (Pont street) towards “Marktplatz” (Market square), where city hall is located, past several of my former hangouts, all of which were either closed or looked unattractive for lunch. Eventually, I found a “Pizzeria” and I hope you can see how happy I was to, finally, get some food and a glass of wine. And how do you like my neckline?
Let’s visit the most dominant building in the city, the “Dom St. Marien zu Aachen” (Cathedral Aachen).
“1226 Jahre in Aachen” is what it says in the top right corner, referring to the number of years that it has been in existence. Many shops in Aachen show the same circle with their years of existence on their shop window, be it 125 for the bakery, 43 for the souvenir shop, or three for the tattoo studio. And please notice the hill in the top left. We'll get back to that later.
Why is there a bronze statue of a wolve in the entrance of Aachen cathedral and why does it have a hole in its chest?
Legend has it that the city of Aachen ran out of money to build the cathedral (Editor’s note: stupid me, I always thought the church itself finances its outlets. I didn't know it is sort of a franchise system).
Anyway, they made a deal with the devil: he would finance the conclusion of the building and in return would receive the first soul to enter the new cathedral. “Gesagt, getan!” (No sooner said than done!). The cathedral had been finished and the devil was waiting inside. The people of Aachen chased a she-wolve through the gate and her soul left that hole in her chest when it escaped the body. There is a lengthy follow-up story about what the devil did afterward, which I’ll spare you here. It will tell you how the hill on the top left of the picture above came about.
Who was the first to tell me all these stories? That wannabe-feminist, arts history student, whom I dated at that time. That is why I made sure to read up on them before posting.
There are two golden shrines in the Gothic Choir Hall of the Cathedral. The one on the far left is the Shrine of Mary, which holds amongst other reliquiae Jesus’s loincloth and John the baptist's beheading shroud. The one on the right, partly covered by my head, holds the remains of Charlemagne, the Franconian emperor, who died in the year 814 AD.
Enough sightseeing! Enough history and legend, for today!
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